Your views in 200 words or less

Tag: WEA

July24th

The editorial reported on the Washington Education Association (WEA) control of our Democratic state legislators. The WEA demanded that Democratic legislators vote against the federal requirements that teachers be partly evaluated on statewide test data.

Our state schools lost control of $40 million of Title 1 funding as a result of the Democrats’ negative vote. The lost money will hurt our states schools.

Significantly, the Democrats’ vote against school funding illustrates the control that the teachers’ union has over Democrats in the Legislature. My issue is not whether they should …

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March12th

I’m wondering why the Washington Education Association is fighting additional evaluations for teachers and principals. I have listened to all of their talk about how it’s all for the children every time they decide to go out on strike in various school districts.

I’m also wondering why they would so strongly endorse losing the $40 million funding from the federal government. The reason they give is that districts can replace this funding from other sources. I surely hope that they remember these words when their contract talks come up again.

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April22nd

I was not surprised to learn of the amount spent on lobbying our Legislature. I was not surprised that the top lobbying organizations are the Service Employees International Union, the Washington Education Association and the Washington Federation of State Employees. What really surprised me was the fact that state agencies are now lobbying the Legislature.

If the state treasurer can’t understand “some profound issues connected to education finance,” then perhaps we need a new treasurer. If the superintendent of public instruction has to hire a lobbyist to “preserve staff and …

March28th

A word to Callaghan: Charter schools are a scam, another scheme by business to get its greedy mitts into the public treasury and destroy public education.

The only reason the charter school ballot measure barely got a majority was because the Washington Education Association and the state Democratic Party were lazy and failed to run a competent campaign. Nothing new there, of course.

Callaghan admits he voted for this terrible idea even though a large majority of his fellow Tacomans voted against it.

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Oct.4th

I was delighted to read Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland’s endorsement of the public charter school measure, Initiative 1240 (Viewpoint, 9-30). It’s encouraging to see that she has joined the ground-breaking bipartisan movement that seeks to put students first.

I understand that charter schools won’t be a silver bullet. They must be combined with other measures such as rewarding our best teachers, especially those who volunteer to work in the most challenging environments. We now have the opportunity to review successful charter schools from around the country and include in Washington charters only the aspects that will encourage student achievement, …

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Sep.27th

It appears that the Washington Education Association, which purports to “put kids first,” will do whatever it takes to achieve their primary goal of electing a governor who is in its camp. This includes donations to OUR Washington in support of the negative “The Real Rob McKenna” TV ads (TNT, 9-27).

Since the Seattle Times recently found via fact check that the ads are mostly false, what does that say about the integrity of those who are charged with teaching our children?

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March22nd

Peter Callaghan doesn’t like me.He has never met me. He doesn’t know my wife, family or friends. He’s never been to my house, my neighborhood or my church, yet he still doesn’t like me.

Callaghan thinks I’m lazy, overpaid and resistant to change. He thinks that my main concern in life is to protect my job and the jobs of my co-workers. He has never worked in my profession, has never visited my workplace and if he’s ever been in the economically depressed community in …

My question is, why is the Washington Education Association (WEA) opposed to this bill if it is so good for them? I’m guessing that it’s because it is not good for teachers and it does not put more money in the classroom.

A recent study by the actuaries at Milliman showed that this would not actually generate any real savings to the system and therefore would not create additional dollars for the classroom.